Peter Smith

Independent

AGE
26RESIDENCE
Denver (27 years)HOMETOWN
DenverPROFESSION
Head of Accounts – Shompton Digital Agency (Web Development and Security)EDUCATION
B.A. Political Science from The University of Colorado at BoulderFAMILY
Two sisters, mother and father all from DenverEXPERIENCE
Field Director, DCCC coordinated campaign 2016. Director of Inventory and Public Relations Elway Dealers GroupWEBSITEelectpetersmith.orgFACEBOOKElectPeterSmithTWITTER@electpetersmith

Why are you running for office?
I am running for office because I can no longer watch the establishment of both parties ignore the working class. I was born in Denver 26 years ago; since then the state has changed exponentially. As we built sports stadiums, airports, train systems, completely transformed neighborhoods, and attracted 2.5 million new neighbors, I began to see the negative side of rapid change for working families. Rent is up 50% while our wages stay flat, healthcare costs more and covers less, and a growing number of working class Coloradans struggle to find meaningful jobs in an economy changed by automation and digitization.

As I stood back and assessed my home state, I realized that all of this change wasn’t designed to benefit working class families like mine, but has been legislated to benefit the wealthy donors that control the two major parties and further polarize the distribution of wealth.

Who is standing by and allowing our cost of living to skyrocket without offering any solutions? The answer is BOTH major parties. The two-party system is a system that now serves to carry out the wishes of wealthy donors and corporations, not the constituents our leaders are supposed to be protecting. I am running for office to give people a working class option that rejects special interest money.

Democrats and Republicans have lost their way. While the Republican party has gone off the deep end, Democrats stand by while special interests gain even more influence over our government and working class families are left behind. In Colorado when our teachers protested in the streets asking for a living wage, Democrats did nothing. As our neighborhoods are gentrified, and people like me who have lived in Colorado their entire lives can no longer afford to live here, both parties stand by and get nothing done.

And as this new form Republican party, fueled by the Alt-right, has taken control of this country, Democrats have proven that they have no answer or solution for this new threat. Democrats solution to combat the rise of Trump and his followers is to support status quo, establishment politicians like Hilary Clinton and my opponent. I am running for office because it is time to inject some youth and some fresh ideas into a legislature where the average State Senator is 58-years-old yet the average Coloradan is 34 years-old.

I am running for office because we need fresh-faced leaders with bold ideas that refuse special interest donations, and who understand the perplexities of what the future holds for a 21st century, automated economy. We need leaders that have lived the struggle of sky rocketing cost of living, leaders who have experienced how these changes have impacted our communities, and leaders who have NEW ideas to fix our problems instead simply regurgitating the party line.

It is time for millennials to take the reins of this state and begin to fix problems that we did not create because we cannot afford to leave them for the next generation and our current leadership has left them for mine.

What three policy issues set you apart from your opponent(s)?
I will provide assistance to any citizen that makes under $100k a year who pays over 30% of their monthly income in rent, and greatly increase state level funding for mixed income affordable housing to help get control of our housing crisis.

I support an immediate 12.5% one time increase and an annual cost of living and inflation increase every year moving forward for every K-12 teacher in Colorado.

I support making all community colleges and vocational schools tuition free for residents, as well as allowing any Coloradan to attend coding “boot camps” or pursue any computer coding related university degree, tuition free, to prepare for the coding and cyber security challenges of the future and to combat the upcoming total automation of our economy.

What are the biggest areas of agreement between you and your opponent(s)?
My opponent and I both believe that every Coloradan deserves universal Pre-K care, that our transportation system needs massive investment and that paid family leave must be doubled to aid Coloradan families. My opponent says he agrees that special interests have no place in government, even though he still accepts money from them. In the end we will both caucus with the Democrats, although while Democratic leadership knows my opponent will never challenge their power, I will work with the Democrats while keeping them honest and making sure they aren’t selling out working class Coloradans to benefit their donors.

Where would you like to see Colorado’s transportation system in two decades, and what’s the best way to get there? What’s your position on the competing state transportation initiatives?
We must pursue an all of the above approach on transportation. The average Coloradan pays $600 more a year in car repairs due to the state of our roads and highways. However, while I support fixing our highways, it has been proven that widening highways does not relieve congestion. Therefore we have to do more. We must build high speed rail lines, make the Hyperloop system a reality, expand our light-rail system and embrace every multi-modal transportation idea we can to serve people of all incomes and geographic locations in Colorado. I like ideas from both party’s proposals, however these plans are not mutually exclusive. We must make ALL (yes all) of these investments NOW while our economy is booming, rather than having to scramble to make the necessary investments after our economy has slowed down. With a White House as erratic as this one, the economic winds could change at any moment. We cannot waste time and continue to neglect our infrastructure.

Denver Post Voter Guide

What role, if any, should the state legislature play in managing the impact of growth along the Front Range and ensuring that rural areas share in the benefits?
The legislature must make sure that every Coloradan, no matter their zip code, has access to broadband. The internet is just as vital as water or electricity in today’s world. While we make sure every household is connected to the internet we need to realize that the state must pay better attention to the impacts of growth statewide. It is the state’s responsibility to assist residents who are struggling to stay above water due to rapid growth. We must make major statewide investments in mixed income affordable housing at the state level in all communities, while making sure that people who get caught up in rapid economic growth are not pushed from their homes or communities.

The moral to our story is the state does not help working families adjust to growth at all right now. The I-70 tunnel expansion is a perfect example of the state pushing forward growth while at the same time neglecting the needs of the community struggling to adjust to this growth. We can do so much better to serve working families, and I promise I will.

Colorado’s health insurance exchange and Medicaid expansion have given hundreds of thousands more residents coverage, but health care remains a top concern in state polls. Affordability and access are particularly challenging in remote areas. Where should the state go on this issue, and what will you do to get us there?
As a Millennial that makes under $100k a year, I can tell you that healthcare for someone like me that works at a smaller company is NOT affordable, especially when my rent is 40% of my monthly income. For people who don’t receive healthcare through their employer, and even many who do, this system is still not affordable enough. Insurance and drug companies need to be held accountable in court for gouging consumers, and the state needs to compensate for the Affordable Care Act subsidies that are being revoked by the Trump administration to make sure the market does not completely collapse.

The path forward is a NATIONAL single payer system, not a statewide one. With T.A.B.O.R in place we simply cannot afford to pay for a statewide single payer system. However we need to encourage our national representatives to get single payer passed nationally and then as a legislature Colorado should do all we can to see to it that that system is implemented immediately.
We must hold insurance and drug companies accountable, compensate for the poor leadership from the federal government, and demand a national single payer system. National single payer, or a public option, works everywhere else on earth, I won’t rest until I see it working for every Coloradan.

More in Voter Guide 2018

New reports and studies continue to emerge on Proposition 112, the oil and gas setbacks measure, just days before election day on Tuesday. The high-stakes ballot issue has attracted millions of dollars on the campaign finance side as stakeholders on both sides of the issue try to convince voters of their arguments.